


Who Says Betrayal Precludes a Friendly Work Relationship

by DilynAliceBlake



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Apologies, Betrayal, Friendship, Gen, Intrigue, M/M, Poison, i dreamed this and when i woke up had to write it down, its very fish centric, jonathan is unconscious for most of it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:48:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23050456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DilynAliceBlake/pseuds/DilynAliceBlake
Summary: Fish and Jervis are friendly.  She gets his sort-of boyfriend poisoned to get herself out of a tight spot.  They don't exactly make hallmark cards for this, but drinks seem like a good place to start.  Fish doesn't believe in apologies, of course.  Words are empty without penance.
Relationships: Fish Mooney & Jervis Tetch, implied jonathan crane/jervis tetch
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Who Says Betrayal Precludes a Friendly Work Relationship

"Sit. Have a drink with me."

"You betrayed me."

"Yes I did. But that was then. We're friends, aren't we? No harm in a drink before we try and kill one another. I like you, Jervis."

She adds a drop of something red to each glass. No color changes or smoke occur, showing that they are clean of any chemicals or poisons.

"How's your man doing?" she inquired, with a respectful glance to Scarecrow's unconscious form. Jervis had not had the heart to leave him, even knowing his friend was slipping away, and genuine distress takes over his face at the mention.

"Not well, I'm afraid," Jervis admits, reluctantly settling across from Fish, who is pulling out another vial and untwisting its cap. She pours a splash into the cup on the right, then eyes Jonathan Crane where he's unconscious on the floor, and adds another splash.

"He has what, another hour?" she asks sympathetically, like she didn't just add the same sickly poison in his veins to the cup before her.

"Perhaps," Jervis agrees dolefully.

"Then if you can cure me in the next thirty minutes, he'll survive it," she says, and drains the poisoned cup.

"Why would you-" Jervis exclaims as she begins seizing in her seat. Now he's at risk of not losing one friend, but two. Still, while Jonathan may not want to be an experiment for a trial and error of cures with who knows what side effects or potential lethalities of their own, Fish has seemingly volunteered in penance for her earlier actions.

He can't waste time dilly-dallying. He has thirty minutes, half a vial of the poison itself, and whatever chemicals his drugs and Scarecrow's compounds have in them.

Fish mooney splutters back into consciousness with a hacking cough after twenty minutes, Jervis' hairbrained cure, and a dose of fear toxin to compensate for whatever may be in Jonathan's system. She throws up all the wine that was in her stomach, retching painfully, before collapsing back onto cool concrete.

"You did it," she says weakly, her smile slight as she struggles to breathe through the tremors. "He's going to be okay."

The implications of success are staggering, but Jervis still has to replicate the effects and synthesize a dose for Jonathan.

He doesn't ask why she did that a second time. For someone betrayed as often as Fish Mooney, words of apology mean very little. Anyone can claim they had to do something. True regret shows in one's attempt to undo it.

When Jonathan vomits, it isn't so artful as the vibrant bloodlike red that Fish expelled. His stomach was mostly empty, and as he heaves and the nausea wracks his frame only a sickly green bile comes out. Jervis isn't surprised that a woman like Fish made near death seem elegant. Even now she is less an exhausted heap and more reclining coolly.

Jervis frets over them both, anxious for any lingering side effects. They hear footsteps coming down the tunnel, and Hatter quickly drags Jonathan over behind the makeshift table and seating. He doesn't want to advertise the existence of a cure when it could be a useful bargaining chip later.

He kneels down in the pool poisoned wine Fish's stomach had rejected, knowing from a distance it will have the right appearance for blood. Madame Mooney obligingly stands, affecting a tall and stately posture as if she isn't recovering from death's very door.

She makes a convincing threatening speech, and whoever was approaching them is wise enough to the danger to stay hidden on the other side of the corner. They play up the theatrics of her earlier betrayal, implying through their ruse that it was her plan from the beginning. When she begins choking him with a pilfered whip, the footsteps hastily retreat in the other direction, judging an incensed and power high Fish Mooney too dangerous an adversary to risk. A sensible conclusion, one must admit.

Jervis coughs and rubs at his now sore throat as he shuffles on his knees over to where Jon is sitting. Scarecrow looks wan, skin clammy, but Jervis has seen him look worse and recover. It's heartening, but not something he has time to relish if they want to make it out of here without facing more adversaries or potential arrest.

"Bring the wine," Fish commands, already several strides ahead. Jervis holds the bottle in one hand and Jonathan steady in the other as they make their exit.


End file.
